Whistleblower: 34,000 combat veterans still waiting for VA benefits

www.washingtonexaminer.com...

Scott Davis, a program specialist at the VA enrollment center in Atlanta, said some veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan lost their eligibility for healthcare after the VA sat on their applications until they expired.

"This is not an accident, not when you get to those numbers," Davis told theWashington Examiner. "The VA, again, intentionally has artificial barriers to reduce the number of people who can use the system."

Combat veterans are not required to verify their income when applying for VA benefits. They are given five years from the time of their discharge from service to enroll in the system.

But the enrollment applications of 34,000 such veterans were delayed when the VA system designated them as pending because they lacked income information, Davis alleged.

In a letter to Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., Davis said 18,000 veterans returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan were waiting to learn the fate of their pending applications.

He noted another 16,000 combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan had lost their eligibility for healthcare because the VA had ignored their applications for more than five years.

Documents provided by Davis indicate the VA may have discouraged veterans from submitting necessary paperwork when applying for benefits so the agency could shift the blame for its growing backlog onto the veterans...

Revolution against the King that produced this country was patterned after the French.

Here America, take another lesson from the French…

American veterans have gone through s***, been in the s***, seen some s***, now returned to the world. And the government is giving them more s***? Maybe its time to give some back.

a reply to: fshrrex

If we need to cut a thousand jobs in the government or more to pay our vets, DO IT!!! Whatever needs done needs to be done and on the government's end, not the citizens! It is their responsibility to pay these hero's for their service, to go to war that is forced upon them because our government can't push for peace....This is disgusting and needs to change ASAFP!!!

I grow more and more disgusted daily at the garbage thrown at people and nobody does a damn thing about it....All we can do is complain and that doesn't get results! We need to storm the gates and DEMAND change...Not only for our vets but many other issues that plague this country!

a reply to: Chrisfishenstein

I agree that the waiting list numbers and the total mismanagement at the upper echelons are beyond reprehensive and shameful.

Cutting 1,000 jobs won't do jack to solve the problem, as long as we have a global empire, with a brainwashed, volunteer force going to keep that empire in power via never ending global war on terror, we will continue to have the system crammed to the breaking point with more and more veterans.

People need to be held accountable for their actions, and there has to be a culture shift away from the 'I'm a fed and I'm tenured so I don't have to worry about losing my job mentality'. Upper management needs a severe house cleaning, and the blame can be spread to the corporatist politicians who send our people off to fight, bleed, maybe die, then come home needing benefits (not to mention all the folks from previous wars that still need benefits).

Cutting employees is like putting a band aid on a sucking chest wound, surgery needs to be done and it needs to start at the top.

a reply to: fshrrex

We need to take every dime spent on congress, their perks, and their salaries and spend it on veterans.

Period.

The vets earned it. The "representatives" didn't.

a reply to: Chrisfishenstein


Respectfully, I agree with SonOfThor, band-aid fixes will not solve anything. However, I think we should pass legislation stating 10% OF EVERY MILITARY SPENDING bill be earmarked for VA services. Most states have "Constitutional" amendments requiring a balanced budget and I think we need a type of Law that guarantees that the money is AUTOMATICALLY calculated in the spending bill and there is no political wiggle room to obsfucate the original specified intent.

I like that this is in the war on terror forum.

That's exactly where the VA belongs.

a reply to: fshrrex

These healthcare benefits should be automatic. Why should they even have to apply if they were put in harms way by their own government? The government should already have all the necessary information to automatically enroll them. Whether they use it or not, should be of their own choosing.

I guess this is another example of how our government turns their back on veterans.

originally posted by: Chrisfishenstein

If we need to cut a thousand jobs in the government or more to pay our vets, DO IT!!!

Well, therein is the actual problem, one created solely by Congress through years and years of cuts to jobs and organizational infrastructure. Eventually, the cuts have a very negative impact on the ability to get anything accomplished.

a reply to: fshrrex

It truly sickens me to read stories like this, for they should be on the short list for support for their service. Organizations like WWP wouldn't need to crop up if the bloated, inefficient bureaucracy was capable of doing it's primary job.

I volunteer with WWP and SSFAS, both helping to fill the void left by the VA and other govt agencies, and I'm damn proud to work by the sides of those that value sacrifice. I've contacted the voted officials that represent me, with stamped responses sympathizing yet nothing changes. With the rise of unemployment, suicide, and PTSD, this topic screams for attention.